Pineapple Seeds

When cutting open a recent store bought pineapple, I noticed some seeds.

The seeds were present at the inside extremities of the skin, and at first looked like pineapple eye material.

They are similar in shape to sesame seeds, at twice the size. The seed count came to around 30.

I have planted most of these out in a seeding tray, and a few others on tissue paper.

I read that the temperature for sprouting pineapple seeds is best between 22C & 28C and that the plants would take around 5 years to fruit from seed.

I'll update if there are any seedlings that come up from this.

On a separate pineapple topic. I recently planted some tops in pots and jars. Observing the roots grow in a jar of water is great for the kids. Of course, Dad does not get any kicks from such 'mucking around' :)

In the past, I have just plonked the tops in soil which contained a decent amount of organic material. Then mulched around the plants. This will continue to be my standard approach when planting heads and pups.

I'm intending to plant out the jar-rooted pineapples within a few weeks.

Update 8th April 2017

14 Pineapple seeds in the seedling tray have sprouted, as well as seeds on the tissue paper (in clear food container with lid). I'll transfer the later to the seedling tray.

The seedlings are very cute as they take the form of a bromeliad (spines and all), even down at 3mm (photo below).Now for a long wait!

Thanks Lissa, I went on Diane Mumm's channel link from your link and found these two below. It has increased my confidence greatly .... other than the unnecessary heating mat, I've done exactly the same.

Incredible! Pineapples and Bananas are two of the few fruits which grow only from vegetative material. How plant breeders can make or develop varieties from that is beyond my comprehension. I have read that the tissue-culture process produces variations on the parent plant which might account for some varieties. We have native Bananas growing in the northern rainforests which I suppose produce seeds. Not sure where Pineapples originated though.

But just think though that our two favourite fruits are not usually seed-bearing, thanks to the weird genetics of plants (eg ability to make viable seeds without pollination). We can enjoy both without spitting seeds out and how much simpler it is for commercial growers to just keep some slips and re-plant for the next crop. The plants are not subject to the vagaries of pollination either. It is inherently vulnerable though to pests and diseases e.g. the Banana's Panama disease which is in our Qld farms.

The funny thing is, I found the seeds in the first pineapple I purchased after reading about seeds in pineapples. I'm cautious about coincidence, so keep your eyes peeled as they may be a little more common then never-ever.

Here is a link which has a good compilation of research about pineapples from origin to Queensland today (2008). It is a paper that has a GM incentive, however there is very little talk about GM and almost all about the history and state of play until 2008 : Quote from Intro....

"The purpose of this document is to provide baseline information about the parent organism for use in risk assessments of genetically modified (GM) A. comosus that may be released into the Australian environment."

Even at twice the Sesame seed size, they are small seeds. Found close to the skin, I wonder how many all of us have tossed into the compost with the skins? None have come up though. Thinking about seeds and compost, the big seeds like Pumpkin come up with alacrity as do Paw Paw. But smaller seeds like Capsicum (I always put my Capsie seeds in the compost hoping for volunteer plants) come up rarely. I've a few more home-grown fruit yet to ripen and you can be sure I'll be looking closely for seeds.

The seeds are a fault with the pineapple if different types of pineapple are grown together and flower at the same time can cross pollinate this is not commended for growers but to get new varieties is one of few ways of breeding a new variety.

Similar to Citrus. Some species of Citrus eg Mandarines can be seedless if not cross-pollinated. Bit of a challenge for large-scale Citrus growers.

Having viable seed is the simplest way I know for finding a new variety. I do wonder though how 'seedless' Watermelons for example, are produced. Buying a packet of seeds for a seedless Watermelons must be quite a challenge. Read somewhere that with Grapes, taking the gel surrounding the embryo seed in 'seedless' Grapes gave the plant breeders the genes with which to work. Cool, huh?